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I’m guessing when you think of the Nation’s Capital, it’s likely your thoughts steer more towards politics and government, rather than science and engineering. Living in the DC area has always proved to be full of interesting places to visit and sights to see. I will admit that I take for granted the attractions of the area and haven’t seen nearly as many as are on my “must-see” list, but I have been trying to make sure I share as many of these activities with my two young boys as possible. The last month has truly been filled with timeless memories for all of us.

It’s not every day that you are treated with your first view of a space shuttle that has flown in space; unfortunately my first view would also be the last view of a shuttle in flight. On April 17th, I gathered with hundreds of members of the NASA Goddard community in a personal fly-over by the Space Shuttle Discovery on its way to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Space Shuttle Discovery was mounted atop the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft as it made three passes over downtown Washington, D.C. before it made a personal flight over NASA-Goddard. There were many misty eyes watching Discovery as the shuttle program had been a huge inspiration for so many of the scientists and engineers that worked at Goddard.

After landing at Dulles airport in Virginia, on April 19th there were several ceremonies to commemorate the arrival of Discovery and the departure of the shuttle Enterprise from the space hanger in the museum. NASA even hosted a social media gathering for a lucky 30 guests to be part of the momentous occasion. I had applied to attend, but alas wasn’t selected.

Timmy the Monkey and Carrie from Think Geek!So excited to finally see Discovery with my boys.

The following weekend, my family decided to head to the Udvar-Hazy center to take a look at Discovery up close and personal. We weren’t the only people with this same idea, it was packed! She was a beautiful sight, covered in her patchwork of thermal blankets and the engine cone was still attached. It was awesome. While we were there we met up with Timmy the monkey and Carrie from ThinkGeek. It was so much fun sharing history with so many people, not to mention seeing the smile on my 3-year-old’s face when he told me that he wanted to go to space. We even left a little bit of GeekMom and GeekDad behind on a shuttle tire to be preserved in the Smithsonian!

As a finale for the month, our family attended the 2012 USA Science and Engineering Festival this past weekend. We were lured by a chance to finally meet GeekMom’s publisher Ken Denmead during his book signing for The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists, but stayed for the truly overwhelming amount of coolness we were surrounded by. I have never seen so many amazing exhibits in one place, the majority of them being hands on! Our family learned about different forms of auto fuel as compared to gasoline, we saw a snake robot, we were able to watch an entire line of MakerBots in action, we played with circus physics and met Sid the Science Kid and Super Grover in person! With two little ones, it was incredibly overwhelming, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, and have already put it on our schedule for next year.

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a mom or an astronaut when I grew-up. I think we can blame Star Trek for the astronaut bit.

As a small child, I would look up at the stars and dream about what it would be like to explore the vast regions of space and I would marvel at the science involved that allowed people to be hurled into space, attached to a rocket.

I was always very fortunate that every one in my life nurtured my love and aptitude for math and science. They may not have nurtured my geeky tendencies, but the nerd in me was always strongly encouraged. I was never told that I shouldn’t like math or science because I was a girl. However, when I first started to have my dreams of being strapped to a rocket, reaching escape velocity and leaving the Earth’s atmosphere, Canada did not have a space agency or a space program.

In 1983, over 4,300 Canadians applied, from all walks of life, in the hopes that they would be chosen as one of six people who would eventually leave Earth at speeds reaching 17,500 mph (7.8 km/s). In December 1983, one of those initial six chosen to be Canada’s first astronauts was Roberta Lynn Bondar. Her acceptance into this new Canadian endeavour helped to reinforce in my young mind that this was something I could aspire to be.

Image source: NASA

On, January 22, 1992, Roberta would be one of the crew on space shuttle Discovery STS-42, making her Canada’s first female astronaut in space. Roberta was Payload Specialist 1, for the first International Microgravity Laboratory Mission (IML-1). The object of IML-1 was to study the effects of weightlessness and microgravity on living organisms and materials processing. As Payload Specialist, she performed experiments in the Spacelab and on the middeck.

A little bit of fun trivia: Roberta was used as a the ‘human coin toss’ for Super Bowl XXVI. She curled up into a ball, then was slowly spun and tossed towards the ceiling. Whatever end of her body touched the ceiling first would be ‘heads’ or ‘tails’. The result: ‘tails’.

In September 1992, Roberta left the Canadian Space Agency in order to pursue her research.

In 1992, another call went out looking for new people to become astronauts in the CSA. This time, only four would be selected. Over 5,330 people applied and Julie Payette would be one of the four selected, making her Canada’s second female astronaut, renewing my aspirations to boldly go into space. Her inclusion into the CSA was one of the reasons I would join the Canadian Armed Forces in 1993.

She has been lucky enough to be on two shuttle missions.

The first was on space shuttle Discovery STS-96, which launched on May 27, 1999. It was during this mission that a shuttle would dock for the first time to the International Space Station (ISS), making her both the first Canadian aboard the ISS and first Canadian to participate in the assembly of the ISS.

Image source: NASA

During that mission, she served as one of four Mission Specialists. It was her job to supervise the space walk, she operated the Canadarm and she was responsible for the station systems. Her duties did not end there. You can read more about her contributions to this mission here.

On July 15, 2009, Julie would return to the ISS on space shuttle Endeavour STS-127. During this mission, she served as the flight engineer—Mission Specialist 2. Her responsibilities included operating three different robotic arms–Canadarm, Canadarm 3 and the Japanese arm–as well as ensuring that the space shuttle was safe for reentry into Earth’s atmosphere by inspecting the shuttle’s wings, leading edges and nose cap.

From the beginning, this mission was plagued by problems. It wasn’t until the sixth launch attempt that Endeavour would be a go for launch. After Endeavour‘s launch, the world held its breath as news came that she lost some foam during the launch, the same event which caused the destruction of Columbia six years earlier. Thankfully, it was determined the the scuffs were minor and would not pose a threat upon reentry.

It was during this mission that another Canadian first happened: The first time that two Canadian astronauts would be both in space at the same and aboard the ISS at the same time. Also, after Endeavour docked with the ISS, it set a record for the most humans in space at the same time in the same vehicle.

Aside from the final Hubble repair mission, out of all the missions in the last two years, this mission is one that I remember the most vividly. Not only was it fraught with problems, but it was filled with a lot of very proud moments in both Canadian history and NASA history.

Also of note, Julie was was Lead CAPCOM (Spacecraft Communicator) for space shuttle Discovery STS-121 (2006): NASA’s return to space after the Columbia disaster.

Thank you Roberta and Julie for your contributions to both NASA and the CSA. Thank you for inspiring me as a young child, a teenager and continuing to inspire me into adulthood. I hope your legacy will continue to inspire many young Canadian girls to pursue careers in science, research, engineering and allow them to dream of a day when they will be strapped to a rocket and hurled into space.

The Discovery space shuttle was the third space rated orbiter in the NASA fleet after Columbia and Challenger. Before its retirement earlier this year, it was the shuttle fleets leader at 39 missions.

Discovery was named after three very historic ships in history. Henry Hudson’s Discovery was used in the 1609 founding of Jamestown and it is also famous for Hudson’s 1610-1611 search for the Northwest Passage. The HMS Discoverywhich was the ship that carried Captain George Nares on the British expedition to the North Pole in 1875-1876. Finally, the RRS Discovery was the main ship of the “Discovery Expedition” lead by Scott and Shackelton to Antarctica.

Discovery (OV-103) was originally delivered to Kennedy Space Center for final verification in November 1983. Having benefited from lessons learned in the construction and testing of Enterprise, Columbia and Challenger, at rollout, its weight was some 6,870 pounds less than Columbia. Its first launch was August 30, 1984 with STS-41-D, a mission planned to deploy three communications satellites. Its final touchdown at Kennedy Space Center was on March 9, 2011 at 10:57 am CST at the end of STS-133.

During its tenure as the oldest remaining shuttle in the fleet, it was best known for its deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on STS-31, in April of 1990. Discovery also ferried the second and third HST servicing missions to space.

Discovery is know for having been chosen as the Return to Flight orbiter twice. The first time in 1988,more then two years after the Challenger accident, with STS-26 and a launch of another TDRS satellite. Then a second time in 2005, more than 2 years after the Columbia disaster, with STS-114 and testing of the new procedures to repair orbiters while in flight.

Discovery was host to Mercury astronaut John Glenn, who was 77 at the time, back into space during STS-95 on October 29, 1998, making him the oldest person to go into space.